Weekend Box Office: End of Watch And House at the End Duke It Out For Number One

It was neck and neck and neck at the box office this weekend with three new contenders all debuting withing $300,000 of each other and leaving the final determination of the real number one this weekend too close to call.

Until final numbers roll out tomorrow, estimates put newcomers End of Watch and House at the End of the Street in a dead heat for the number one spot with $13 million apiece. Whichever movie comes out on top, both have reason to celebrate. With $7 million and $10 million budgets respectively, both have managed to lock in an opening weekend higher than their costs, a nice bonus in the usually sleepy September.

Clint Eastwood's latest offering, a turn as an aging baseball scout in Robert Lorenz' directorial debut Trouble with the Curve, came in a very narrow third place with an estimated $12.7 million.

All three of those films eclipsed Dredd which bowed in at a dredd-ful $6 million for a weak sixth place. Despite the action flick's relatively modest $50+ million price tag, it looks to be on a short road to fiscal forgetableness.

After a nice debut in very limited release, Weinstein's The Master expanded to nearly 800 venues and banked a solid $5 million, taking the top ten's highest per-theater total of $6,400.